The niche and paratextual industries of games and play

The Agency: A Gamification of the Creative Industry’s corporate pyramid

The Agency is a game of resource management and card development, where players role-play as an individual starting their pursuit of a career in the creative industry. Players race to gather varying resources in order to work their way up the corporate pyramid starting as an intern, with the winner being the first to claim the prestigious CEO card. Its not all-smooth sailing as the game throws various scenarios at the players, which could negatively or positively affect their game, its all a matter of luck, strategy and hard work. Will you be in control of the agency?

DEFINE

Problem

To develop, prototype, play test and present an analogue game

Idea: Theme informs mechanics

My aim was to create a game that loosely simulates/models navigating the creative industry’s corporate pyramid, while focusing on the ‘trade or bartering’ aspect required for workers to progress to the next stage in their career…